My speech at the 2011 Transportation & Infrastructure Summit   

I had the opportunity to speak at the 2011 Transportation & Infrastructure Summit in Irving, TX  in August. My remarks and slides are available on You Tube. I feel it is only fair to warn you that the speech (and video) are 25 minutes long, but I do think you will find the history and facts about the federal fuel tax and highway spending very interesting.

The bottom line is that the current mechanisms for funding highway and bridge construction and repair are broken. The solution though, is not to implement an entirely new taxing mechanism in the form of a vehicle-miles tax. Our federal government officials have proven that we cannot trust them to manage the Highway Trust Fund. The HTF has morphed from a true user fee designed to build and maintain the interstate highway system into a slush fund for bike paths, public transit, and bridges to nowhere.

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and the Reason Foundation provide interesting alternatives that give more power and money back to the states and help restore trust in the Trust Fund.